Was talking to a friend last night and she said that whenever she gets a UTI she doesn't go to the doctor, she just drinks loads of cranberry juice. Can it really completely get rid of a UTI? Or is the relief only temporary?

EDIT: Although I have an appointment with the doc on Monday I've bought 2 litres of it to drink over the weekend. I think it feels a bit better but it could just be psychological.

(Original post by Talya)
Was talking to a friend last night and she said that whenever she gets a UTI she doesn't go to the doctor, she just drinks loads of cranberry juice. Can it really completely get rid of a UTI? Or is the relief only temporary?

EDIT: Although I have an appointment with the doc on Monday I've bought 2 litres of it to drink over the weekend. I think it feels a bit better but it could just be psychological.

No it isn't psychological... it works by makes the urine alkaline... and this stops the irritation...

Also remember that you have have cysistis (the symptoms) without having an infection. I get cysistis alot (mostly after I have sex) but it will only ever last 12 hours maximum which therefore rules out an infection.

Drinking cranberry juice, as revenged said, stops the symptoms by changing the pH of you wee, making it less painful to pee. Also as you are drinking more liquid it helps flush out your system.

Your friend could have what I have and just gets it randomly. For me, I try to prevent by washing after sex but sometimes I get it without having had sex. I think that I just get "irritation" but not an infection which could be what your friend gets. If her symptoms last longer than a day or so then she should go to the doctor. The infection can travel up your system and infect your kidneys which can be very dangerous.

I suffer from recurrent kidney infections, and my consultant advises me to take cranberry tablets, it does have some medicinal benefit. That said, it isn't always enough for me! I'm off to a+e because i have a really bad kidney infection.

(Original post by Revenged)
No it isn't psychological... it works by makes the urine alkaline... and this stops the irritation...

it doesn't get rid of an infection though - it stops the symptoms...

That is right but it does have the antibacterial benefit as well. The tannin (kind of the active ingredient) stops the bacteria adhering to the receptors in the epithelium (lining) of the bladder, so instead of being able to take hold and cause the infection, they are just flushed out. In answer to your question, Talya, yes it can rid you of certain types of UTI completely but it depends on the pathogen causing the infection. Some won't be affected by the tannin and will require a course of antibiotics but it's certainly worth giving it a go P.S. that thing about green tea is absolute rubbish lol sorry kids! It may protect you against ill health as it contains lots of antioxidants but there are plenty of things which boast this property such as fruit, veg, tea, dark chocolate, red wine etc etc.

(Original post by everylittleting)
Also remember that you have have cysistis (the symptoms) without having an infection. I get cysistis alot (mostly after I have sex) but it will only ever last 12 hours maximum which therefore rules out an infection.

Also sorry to be a cow/know-it-all but I think you're getting mixed up - cystitis most definitely is a UTI. In fact it's the most common UTI, its definition being that it's an infection of the bladder, which is definitely part of the urinary tract system. Even if you only have the infection for 12 hours, it's still an infection. The inflammation (what you referred to as irritation) is produced in response to the infection so it's kind of a case of no smoke without fire - you don't get irritation without the infection being there. If you're lucky enough to find it goes away very quickly it's likely that it's the same type of bacteria causing it every time and your body has created the memory cells necessary to trigger the correct antibodies to duff up the bacteria as soon as they enter your system.

(Original post by Sarky)
I suffer from recurrent kidney infections, and my consultant advises me to take cranberry tablets, it does have some medicinal benefit. That said, it isn't always enough for me! I'm off to a+e because i have a really bad kidney infection.

I was just diagnosed with a bad kidney and water infection, im in agony here... i know how your feeling, its awful.
i had to come home from uni, when i rung up the docs there and explained symptoms they wouldnt see me til the 26th :O i said i would be dead by then, so i had to come hoem and see the docs here......

(Original post by Robcampo)
I was just diagnosed with a bad kidney and water infection, im in agony here... i know how your feeling, its awful.
i had to come home from uni, when i rung up the docs there and explained symptoms they wouldnt see me til the 26th :O i said i would be dead by then, so i had to come hoem and see the docs here......

(Original post by Talya)
You'll have to do more than just drink green tea, you know.

No you don't. This isn't a eat a strict diet and do exercise routine. Green tea prolongs your life expectancy just by drinking it alone and doing nothing else. It's like magic. And it feels like you're in heaven when you drink it... the soothing tinkly feeling down your throat, the sensation of your internal organs being revived by the green tea, the joy and wonders or the marvellous green tea smell...

Now it's proven that watercress (like lettuce) can prevent/combat cancer. I'm not sure which cancer because I wasn't paying attention to the news but it must be magic!

(Original post by jaroxski)
No you don't. This isn't a eat a strict diet and do exercise routine. Green tea prolongs your life expectancy just by drinking it alone and doing nothing else. It's like magic. And it feels like you're in heaven when you drink it... the soothing tinkly feeling down your throat, the sensation of your internal organs being revived by the green tea, the joy and wonders or the marvellous green tea smell...

Now it's proven that watercress (like lettuce) can prevent/combat cancer. I'm not sure which cancer because I wasn't paying attention to the news but it must be magic!

Stop telling people stuff that isn't true! If it's proven that green tea prolongs life expectancy and watercress prevents cancer then why doesn't everyone live to 100 and why does anyone get cancer? None of this stuff is proven - sometimes scientists think they may have found a chemical which might have a certain effect, for instance they found that red wine contained a chemical which combatted obesity quite significantly in rats and mice, but read the small print and you will probably find that the chemical occurs in such tiny quantities in the food product, you would have to eat vast quantities every day for it to even have a fraction of the effect. With the red wine, the study showed you would have to drink around 5 litres a day to get even a tiny amount of the chemical they gave to the rats and mice. In any case, green tea does not revive your internal organs lol. If you drink something warm, then yes your stomach will feel warm. That is not magic. Eating a diet high in antioxidants (watercress or no watercress) can have significant health benefits, which sometimes include the prevention of cancer, but again that is not magic, it's science, and won't include any cancer caused by genetic means rather than environmental damage to DNA.

(Original post by jaroxski)
No you don't. This isn't a eat a strict diet and do exercise routine. Green tea prolongs your life expectancy just by drinking it alone and doing nothing else. It's like magic. And it feels like you're in heaven when you drink it... the soothing tinkly feeling down your throat, the sensation of your internal organs being revived by the green tea, the joy and wonders or the marvellous green tea smell...

Now it's proven that watercress (like lettuce) can prevent/combat cancer. I'm not sure which cancer because I wasn't paying attention to the news but it must be magic!